The Changing Family Kristen Ruiz Briana Simoes Astrid Ramirez Alix

Premarital Sex and Marriage After 1850, the middle class cared more about increasing their financial standing through marriage than the working class. -young women were watched more frequently then young men in order to keep them from having premarital sex. -the daughter virginity was treated as a financial opportunity. Premarital sex and romantic ideals were common among the working among the working class. Reasons being -could not afford prostitutes -no hope of improving societal rank through marriage

Continued.. Between 1750 and 1850 the rates of illegitimacy soared -not as common in industrialized cities In the later 19 th century more pregnant women were marrying. - they would establish a two parent household. -improved the working class respectability.

Prostitution Men of all classes visited prostitutes. -middle upper classes had more money to sustain this lifestyle. Prostitution was a stage in life. In Paris alone, 155,000 women were registered as prostitutes between 1871 and About 750,000 other women were suspected of prostitution in the same years. Both regular and part-time prostitutes quote their prices. -Working class women were corrupted by hot meals and baths. My Secret Life, an anonymous eleven-volume autobiography of an English sexual adventurer from the servant-keeping classes. -reveals the dark side of sex and class in urban society. -frequently, thinking of their wives in terms of money, family, and social position.

Kinship Ties After marriage, in the working class it was common for the newly weds to live near the rest of the family. -Reasons being: Support during sickness, a death, unemployment, or old age Many large families often lived in the same neighborhood. People turned to their families for help in coping with sickness, unemployment, death, and old age. In working-class homes, ties to relatives after marriage were called kinship ties. -much stronger than many social observers had recognized. Government was generally providing more welfare services -the average couple and its children inevitably faced crisis.

Gender Role and Family Life After 1850, more women were staying home while the husband earned the wages. -factory employment for women declined -women only worked outside the home in poor households. Gender division led to discrimination when a women wanted to work -well paying jobs were off limits -husbands were disapproving In working-class homes, ties to relatives after marriage were called kinship ties. -much stronger than many social observers had recognized. Women lacked basic legal rights -not allowed to own property -wives wages belonged to their husbands -led to rebellion

Cont : law gave English women property rights. -socialists women frowned upon liberal feminists Women in the home were given the wages to manage. -gave the husband a small allowance. By 1900, life revolved around the home and family for all social classes.

Child Rearing The financially stable classes began to develop actual affection for their infants -women became better mothers -breast feeding Nurturing applied to their older children too. (teens and what not) Considered the input in their children could come out positively economically. Overprotection sprang from this idea: -girls could not ride horses or do such things like riding bicycles -this was viewed as masturbation Boys trousers had to be a certain fit. -Parents didn’t want anything sexual occurring.